Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

2/5/2011 at 10:29pm

FAYETTEVILLE — What a waste.

Arkansas entered the week poised to make a move in the Southeastern Conference standings and prove once and for all that it was an improved program. The Razorbacks, after all, were coming off a victory against a Top 25 opponent on the road and hadn’t lost at home.

Arkansas ended the week with two consecutive home losses, including Saturday’s 69-60 disappointment against Ole Miss. That victory at Vanderbilt is almost meaningless now.

Coach John Pelphrey said earlier this week he didn’t want to put too much pressure on his team to win these two games. Because, Pelphrey said, if the games were lost, he didn’t want the team to think the season was lost.

Maybe that wasn’t the best approach?

Not all games are created equal. They’re not. Some games are truly more important than others, and these were two must-wins for the Razorbacks, who dropped to 14-8 overall and 4-5 in the Southeastern Conference.

Ole Miss (15-8, 3-5) won for the third consecutive time at Bud Walton Arena.

“It’s, it’s a tough week,” Pelphrey said, trying to gather his thoughts. “So, just like last week was a good week, we got two wins. Now we have two losses. This week is behind us now. We’ve got to get ready for this week. There are still challenges ahead, a lot of basketball to be played.”

Sorta.

There are definitely challenges ahead with eight regular season games remaining. Only seven of those are SEC games and the year ends with four games on the road. We all know how bad Arkansas has been on the road (5-23 since 2007-08 if you needed a reminder).

Kentucky comes to Bud Walton Arena. Who likes the Razorbacks’ chances against the Wildcats, ranked No. 12 by realtimepri.com, when they can’t defend their home court against No. 68 Mississippi or No. 37 Georgia.

What about winning at SEC West-leading Alabama? At Ole Miss? Mississippi State rates pretty high on the dysfunctional team scale and Arkansas gets the Bulldogs twice, including Wednesday in Starkville.

LSU and Auburn seem like wins. Florida A&M has to be a win, right?

We’ll see. Pelphrey has to hope the Razorbacks take better advantage of their remaining opportunities than the one they just wasted against the Rebels and Wednesday against Georgia.

Don't forget you're talking about a program that has gone – as noted earlier this week by Robbie Neiswanger of the Arkansas News Bureau — a combined 6-18 in the final half of SEC play since the 2007-08 season. Included in the second-half struggles is a 3-13 finish over the past two years.

Bucking that trend seems less likely after the losses to Ole Miss and Georgia.

“It’s frustrating, especially coming off [the Vanderbilt] win,” Rotnei Clarke said. “We knew we had an opportunity to get two here at home. It’s tough. To be undefeated and drop two straight at home, it’s tough.

“It’s frustrating.”

Most frustrating for the 10,064 in attendance, including a few thousand students who got in free? Watching the Razorbacks absolutely unravel with 11:42 remaining and the game tied at 43.

Forward Michael Sanchez was fouled grabbing a rebound. He hit Trevor Gaskins in the head with an elbow and was assessed a technical foul. Sanchez missed the front end of a one-and-one, and the Rebels turned the technical free throws and ensuing possession into four points.

Ole Miss outscored the Razorbacks 17-4 from that point. None of the Razorbacks had an explanation for what happened, but they absolutely fell apart.

“We were never quite right after that,” Pelphrey said.

It’s not like they were great to begin with. Arkansas trailed by four at halftime and fell behind by as many as 11 in the opening half.

Arkansas started the game without Marshawn Powell on the floor. ESPN2 broadcasters said he didn't start because of a tweaked ankle, but Powell finished with 19 points, sharing high-point honors with Ole Miss' Chris Warren.

Powell was 7 of 13, but shooting was a problem as the Razorbacks hit 9 of 25 in both halves. Reginald Buckner had a lot to do with that, finishing with a school-record eight blocks, 12 rebounds and 11 points.

Inexplicably, Arkansas continued to drive the lane and challenge Buckner. Ole Miss had 12 blocks as a team.

Pelphrey defended the continued drives to the bucket by saying the team got 30 trips to the free-throw line. True, and they got 22 free throws in the second half, but hit only 13.

Defensively, Arkansas was OK at times. But late breakdowns — like a 3-pointer from Buckner on an inbounds play with one second left on the shot clock — were damaging.

And the rebounding? Poor as usual.

Ole Miss did what everybody seems to do against the Razorbacks - win the battle of the boards. Arkansas was out-rebounded 40-31, including one possession when the Rebels got four opportunities to score.

That wasn’t even the worst of the rebounding for the league’s worst rebounding team. Arkansas finally decided to buckle down on defense and held the Rebels to a long 3-point attempt with the shot clock winding down. Instead of grabbing the rebound, the Razorbacks failed to block out Trevor Gaskins, who secured the ball then quickly found Nick Williams for a score with 5:57 left. It gave the Rebels a 60-47 lead, their largest.

“That is demoralizing,” Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said of giving up offensive rebounds.

Kennedy would know. The Rebels entered the week in the bottom half of the league in rebounding margin, and Saturday was characterized by Kennedy as a matchup between two of the SEC’s worst-rebounding teams.

Ole Miss seemed more intent on crashing the boards. Arkansas seemed to spend a lot of time just standing there watching.

“Overall I didn’t think the rebounding was awful. Certainly, it could have been better,” Pelphrey said.

Honestly, the whole thing could have been better. The whole week could have been better for a team and program that needed some positive momentum.

What a waste.

Tagged: Andy Kenedy, Georgia Bulldogs, Ole Miss Rebels, John Pelphrey, Arkansas Razorbacks, Marshawn Powell